Sacrifice
by okaie
Summary: It was sacrifice because he had put her happiness before his immediate happiness.


**Sacrifice**

**Rating: **K+  
**Disclaimer: **Wish Disney hadn't sacrificed Phil of the Future.

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"_Sacrificing your happiness for the happiness of the one you love is by far, the truest type of love."_

"Bye mom, bye dad," a barely audible male voice said pleasantly before rising. He strolled comfortably down the hallway, his smile growing greater as he reflected on each picture hanging on the wall. It was all part of his history, their history. He paused as he heard joyful noises wafting from a nearby room. His fingers rested gently, tentatively, against the oak door as he peered in the small but sizable crack between the door and the door frame.

She was rocking softly, her head leaning over indulgently as she cooed softly to the pink bundle in her arms. Her smile grew wider as she hugged the bundle closer to her chest and a soft, chubby hand emerged from the bundle, groping the air to find something to cling on – namely, her hair. She laughed jovially as contact was made and an iron fist pulled her closer to the bundle. Not at all minding the definite pain of her stretched scalp, she bent her head further to kiss her tenderly.

He smiled blissfully and his head dropped, softly thudding against the oak door frame. He was happy, he realized once again; it was a wonder that never seemed to vanish from his life. As he gazed musingly at the playful baby girl and her mother, a grateful sigh overtook his body. He had made the right decision.

It was a secret he hadn't told her. Well, not a secret per say, but a sacrifice he never told her of. They shared all secrets with one another – it was a pact they had made long ago, when she had told him that she had dreams of marrying Mr. Potato Head and he had told her that he was not the normal, twenty-first century boy she had believed he was. Rather, he was a normal twenty-_second_ century boy stuck in the past, no, the present. His life no longer revolved around the "wonders" of his birth era, but in the wonders of his present era. In fact, he rarely used future technology – they sat speckled with dust coloring them gray. Instead, he opted to fully immerse himself in the present, including present technology. The only exception was when he spoke to his parents. He used his once precious Wizard when speaking with them. His parents had never fully grasped the simple mechanics of twenty-first century technology, plus, it enabled him to see his parents holographically while they spoke.

It was easy to not see his parents in person. When she had followed her ambitions and chose to go to New York University to study broadcast journalism, he had chosen, automatically, to go to Columbia University. Then, she had gotten a good job as a reporter at one of New York City's main news stations. Since then they had been stationed in the East Coast, surviving the frigid winters together with cups of hot chocolate and nights close together cuddled under blankets. However, he noted that might have to switch to actual coffee soon, smiling as he ran a hand over his sleepy eyes. Babies were a lot of work.

His parents had been ecstatic over the news of the newest Diffy and had immediately started planning their trip to visit their granddaughter. This time, however, they made sure to pack extra parts for the time machine. Though their son had chosen to settle down in the twenty first century, since the time machine had been fixed at the end of his high school career, they preferred to come only for visits to their holiday home.

That was the sacrifice he had chosen not to tell her. He knew that she, in the end, would choose the life that she believed would be best for him, sacrificing her own happiness. Even though they had already decided to live together while they attended college together, she would have told him to go back home, to the twenty-second century, where he had the potential to do something great. Yet, he later realized, he had already done something great. In the eyes of the world, his accomplishments were minimal, but to him and his wife, the baby that was theirs was the greatest accomplishment they could have hoped for.

Initially, he had dwelled over the could-have-beens that accompanied his decision. He had missed the twenty-second century greatly. It was his past and it was part of the future that he had planned for himself when he was young. He realized that he could never go back to the future – if he did, he could only return to the present as a visitor for up to two weeks. It would never be enough time with her. He knew he had made the right decision, however, despite his yearning, because whenever she would smile, he would smile too, knowing that his sacrifice was for her happiness, which, in turn, contributed to his happiness.

She did not need to know his sacrifice. It wasn't sacrifice because she knew what he had given up for her. Bragging about his sacrifice would have the opposite effect of what he meant it to have. The knowledge would have always hung over her head as ammunition that he had done more for her than she thought she could do for him. Sacrifice was not about what one did, but about _why_ one did it. The knowledge of his sacrifice had the potential to make her unhappy, and his decision was sacrifice because he had put her happiness before his immediate happiness. And in the end, her happiness had become his. His sacrifice had become the turning point of his life. It became the reason why he had promised himself he would do anything and everything to make her happy and never let her go.

His grin grew wider as his attention once again returned to his wife and his daughter. A chuckle escaped the corner of his mouth as his daughter once again pulled the blonde hair dangling in front of her, demanding more attention. Keely winced slightly, her eyes searching for the source. As she found Phil's warm brown eyes, sparkling just the way she loved them to, she smiled, and her bright blue eyes glittered just the way he loved them to. He shouldered the door open before proceeding to wrap his arms around his two favorite girls. "I love you," he murmured.

His sacrifice was the best decision of his life.

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